Behind the Meat-Ball
Behind the Meat-Ball is a 1945 Looney Tunes short directed by Frank Tashlin. Plot Fido will go to great lengths to get real meat to eat after having an unsatisfactory vegetarian diet given to him by his mistress. When Fido finally finds a real piece of meat which fell out of a meat truck, he gets in a fight over it with a terrier and a bulldog, whom are also as equally as desperate to get meat as himself. The three dogs fight for the meat, but in the end, the terrier ate the piece of meat. Accepting defeat, Fido says "Well, we can dream, can't we?", knocks himself and the bulldog out with a mallet, and the two dogs continue dreaming over succulent meat. Availability * (1992) LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Vol. 2, Side 3: Frank Tashlin Notes * This was the final cartoon to use the 1941-45 rendition of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down". This was also the final cartoon to only credit certain people before the transition to expanded credits. As such, the opening themes would be shortened, but the ending rendition and drum ending still remained unchanged for another year. * Frank Tashlin is not credited in the credits, as no "Direction" credit is present. * One of the dogs is an unnamed bulldog in the style of Spike the Bulldog/Hector/Butch. * The title card shows some meat rationing stamps, which is a reference to food stamps during World War II. At the time of its release, World War II was coming to its demise. The message that meat is hard to obtain references the wartime scarcity of food commodities. As such, posters asked people to ration their portions weekly and save them for soldiers who were currently fighting in World War II in the Pacific and in Europe. * IMDB lists Sara Berner as providing the voice of Fido's owner, and Mel Blanc as providing the voice of Fido, both uncredited. It is unknown who voiced the other two dogs, but they are possibly voiced by Blanc as well. * Bugs Bunny is once mentioned by Fido in this cartoon he describes the vegetarian diet given to him (particularly the carrots) as "Bugs Bunny food". * Despite the title mentioning meatballs, interestingly in the scenes where Fido dreams of meat, meatballs are not found among the meats in his dream sequences. * It is the last cartoon in the Associated Artists Productions package and the last non-Bugs Bunny cartoon to have the WB shield come before the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.", "Present", the production code, and the copyright fade in. This is due to the transition to expanded credits. As such, the future shorts had a shortened rendition and no fade in of the "WARNER BROS. PICTURES INC.", "Present", the copyright and the production code (they are already present on the screen, though some Bugs Bunny shorts in the 1949-51 seasons had the fade in). External Links * go down to #103 because there are many cartoons * Laserdisc version in English Category:Wartime Shorts Category:1945 Category:Shorts Category:Looney Tunes Shorts Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling Category:Cartoons written by Melvin Millar Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer Category:Dogs Category:Cartoons in a.a.p. package Category:One-Shot Cartoons Category:Cartoons with uncredited directors